Niall Horan stole hearts everywhere as the fun-loving, bleached-blond member of One Direction and now he's successfully made the transition into thriving solo artist. He spent five years performing alongside four and then three group members so you know, getting up on stage and doing his thing on his lonesome took a bit of an adjustment. And the singer just opened up about how he now at 24 years old struggles with anxiety, something his former bandmate Zayn Malik has been vocal about too.

While speaking to Australia's 93.7 Bianca, Terry, and Bob, the singer was asked if anxiety is something he deals with as well, since it's something fans of his and people everywhere live with. He candidly explained how he used to really not think much of it and couldn't really relate to those who would speak about their struggles with it, until he started to have his own issues.

"Every now and then I get a little bit [of anxiety] and I used to never get anything at all. I used to be like, 'I don’t believe that anxiety thing. What’s everybody banging on about?' and then I got it a couple of times and went, 'Oh Jesus,'" Niall explained. "I tend to get it a lot around stage time and I start freaking out with TV shows and stuff but you kind of breathe your way out of it."

And yes, the "Too Much to Ask" singer even has a specific breathing technique he uses when he feels like he needs to relax and re-focus a bit.

"Breathe in for four, breathe out for four and hold your breath for four," he explained. Going to try that out myself if I'm being honest here. Works for Niall, so why not? Surprisingly though, Niall did mention how Zayn was very open with his anxiety struggles during their time in 1D together and while it's something fans weren't really aware of until Z went solo and admitted his crippling anxiety was something he was working through since it was preventing him from performing, Niall explained that all of the guys knew the group atmosphere they had helped Zayn out.

"Zayn would have struggled with it because he liked having us next to him on stage, which took some of the [pressure off]…when you don’t like it being all about you and you’ve got other people around you, it’s kind of easier to go on stage," Niall said. So Niall, along with Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne, all knew this was something that always plagued Zayn but as a group, they were able to help him out when it came to being up on stage singing together. This is actually really comforting for fans to know that yes, the guys really had Zayn's back.

zayn and niall

And seeing Zayn and now Niall be so open about something many people deal with on a daily basis too is truly commendable.

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